Seeing some birds

To start with, Ferry Meadows Country Park, Peterborough:

Cormorant

Black-headed Gulls

Moorhen



Great Crested Grebes

On to Eyebrook Reservoir:

Green-winged Teal

Smew (I always think 'White Nun' should be an alcoholic drink for birders

To finish the day, CEGB Reservoir, Peterborough:

Iceland Gull!

photos taken with Nikon Coolpix 995 + Leica Apo Televid 77 with 20x eyepiece

Brrr

Holly




Cow parsley?


Male Bullfinch

It's still literally freezing here. There hasn't been enough sunlight to melt the snow off the trees, so everything is still snowy-white. Life must be hard for small birds, especially.

Finally caught up with the Hawfinches at Ferry Meadows. At least two birds were present, including a male which showed particularly well in the trees above our heads. A procession of dog-walkers and joggers kept flushing the finches from their food source (presumably some seeds on the ground somewhere) and into view.

It was useful to hear the birds' call again, which reminded me of Grey Wagtail, for some reason...

digiscoped photo taken with Nikon Coolpix 995 + Leica Apo Televid 62 with 16x eyepiece

'sno fun when it's this cold

Male Bullfinch


Female Bullfinch


Water Rail! (not bad for an action shot?)


Railtrack

There's no disguising the fact that there was next to no light at all today... Some more snow overnight had made everything look very pretty, but taking photos was hard work. Hence the poor standard of the images above.

The Bullfinches seemed unusually confiding. They allowed quite a close approach as they fed on seeds close to the ground. The Water Rail was good fun. It fed busily in some waterside vegetation before legging it through the snow across the footpath - which led to the photo of two of its footprints...


Snowy teasels


Snowy umbellifer

digiscoped photos taken with Nikon Coolpix 995 + Leica Apo Televid 62 with 16x eyepiece

A sprinkling of snow...

rosehips


leaves


berries


twigs


nettles


sycamore leaves


lichen

photos taken with Nikon Coolpix 995

Dullness

Teal


Black-headed Gull

Walked all around Ferry Meadows in hope of finding some redpolls to sift through, but didn't even manage a Siskin or a Bullfinch. Pretty poor stuff...

photos taken with Nikon Coolpix 995 + Leica Apo Televid 62 with 16x eyepiece

Sunday morning fishing on the River Nene

'Think there might be something tasty in here...'


'I'll take a closer look...'


'This is my river!'


'Now, where was I?'


'Success at last!'

photos taken with Nikon Coolpix 995 + Leica Apo Televid 62 with 16x eyepiece

Ferry Meadows Country Park

A 'celebration' of the Black-headed Gull:









Gadwalls performing nicely on Lynch Lake






... and Tufted Ducks on Gunwade.


The best kind of red-eye (on a drake Pochard)


Grey Heron on the meadow of the same name


Woodpigeon dozing in an oak tree




Lesser Redpolls eating seeds (rosebay willowherb, I think)


Autumnal leaves... in winter




Goldfinch fodder

digiscoped photos taken with Nikon Coolpix 995 + Leica Apo Televid 62 with 16x eyepiece